Azmuria
by The Thing in the Cave
Summary: After loosing the Omnitrix, Ben needed something to fill the hole it left in him. And this is what he found... Bad summary, good story. Rated T for safety. Slight His Dark Materials crossover.
1. Master K

IT IS VERY IMPORTANT THAT YOU READ THIS AUTHORS NOTE FOR THE FATE OF THE WORLD IS AT STAKE! =O

Well, maybe not, but still.

This story is based of the philosophy of daemonism. I repeat, a philosophy. Not a religion. The basis of this story is all real. The daemon page is real, many people that appear in later chapters are based off of real people, TDF is real. Also, the introduction on The Daemon Page goes on for a bit longer than in this, which is why I cut it off and edited a bit. I'll tell you more on this at the end.

As for why I'm doing this... I think half of it is that, in my mind, Ben would make a really, really fun daemian when he's older. The other half is shameless advertising. xP Don't worry, though, you can still read this if you don't want to be a daemian yourself. I'm fine with that.

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own Ben 10, The Daemon Page, The Golden Compass, or any of those other books I mentioned. Although I did come up with SCF.**

* * *

"One person was killed and three people were injured from the armed robbery, and police are still on the case trying to find who it was…"

Ben sighed, feeling extremely guilty. He turned the TV off and hid his head in his arms. He made one selfish decision to be normal again, and innocent people get killed. He wished he could just go hero and fix everything he had done. But he knew that wouldn't work.

He wished someone would come up to him, comfort him. Even just talking to him would be nice. But no one was there. Grandpa was busy driving, and Gwen wasn't on that trip. He never knew he would miss her this much. After all that superhero bonding they went through, saving each other's lives and what-not, they really got close. She was one of his best friends. And having to leave her in Singapore with her parents until the middle of next school year didn't exactly make him feel good.

He thought about Grandpa. He had been a bit… disturbed. Something was going on in the Plumber world, and because he didn't have the Omnitrix anymore, he couldn't tell him. He didn't bug him about it.

All his friends were either gone or whacked up. But, unlike all those times where he was fighting aliens, he knew no one would come to the rescue.

He felt lonelier and more depressed than he ever have in his life.

He sighed again.

He groped around for the laptop at the edge of the table and dragged it in front of him. He needed to sort some problems out. But first, he needed to find out what those problems were. He opened it and went directly to the Sumo Slammer Card Creator Forum, the place where he spent most of my time online. The reason? It's a needy forum.

SSCCF (or mostly SCF) is full to the brim with troll, flamers, idiots, and so on. But newbs are attracted to it like moths to a porch light, and they continuously dive in with no regard for what happens behind the scenes. The older members take a large amount of pride in stomping all over theses poor newbies, calling them "stupid n00bs" and so forth. At first he came because it was the most active place to put the cards he made on the actual card creator, but he stayed because it needed so much help. He struggled though the storm of nasty comments and made it to the elite members, and he worked behind the scenes to prevent flame wars and educate the idiots.

But the saddest part is that it was his only replacement for superheroing.

He went straight to the General section, since that's where almost everything happened. He would just do what he always did- go thread by thread and see if he can find anything starting up. The first one was a nearly-brand-new and sarcastic-looking one titled "daemons? yeah right," by Master K. _That looks controversial, _he thought, clicking.

--

oh man, this sites a riot. its all about those daemon from the golden compass, and how these people believe they actually have them! xD i mean, how crazy is that?

(Link)

tl;dr: a bunch of crazies talk about little invisible talking animals

--

He rolled his eyes. Belief bashing was always what K specialized in, and he was usually wrong, so he wasn't about to take his word for it. He needed to check it out himself. He clicked on the link and came very dark page with gray writing. On the top was a banner of an old guy making bunny ears to a huge cat-lion thing he was snuggling that read "the dæmon page". There was a small blurb in the middle of the page:

_**Welcome to The Dæmon Page!**_

_Created in 2003, The Dæmon Page was the first website dedicated completely to the philosophy of dæmons, and the community is still going strong today. Whether you're a veteran to the idea or are just hearing about it for the first time, we hope you'll enjoy your visit. In short, a dæmon is a person's subconscious voice projected in animal form, giving unwavering companionship, and eventually settling into a form that reflects the essence of who you are. To learn more, please visit the Introduction._

"Okay," he muttered, clicking on Introduction. He was brought to a new page with a different banner, this time a surfer boy with a goat-thing next to him. Under that, next to a picture of a cheetah, was "Introduction, In Short." Based on the size of the lettering and the scrollbar, this was not going to be all that short. He took a deep breath, knowing that he couldn't argue K's point if he didn't have any info, and began.

_If you chose this page to read first, you're probably wondering: What is a dæmon? Well let me start out by assuring you it has nothing to do with 'demons' and their curved horns, red eyes, and skewers. The dæmon, though pronounced the same way, is something much different. Plainly put, your dæmon is you._

He wasn't sure if that made it crazier or saner.

_Everyone has one. The consensus used to be that a dæmon was simply a reflection of a person's soul, but over time the community has come to see them more as a part of the subconscious assigned a gender, name, and a symbolic animal form. _

He decided it was saner.

_So it might be more accurate to say the part of us that's the dæmon is what makes us __capable__ of having a soul; they aren't our soul in its entirety, but a necessary half. Take away what constitutes the dæmon, and you lose your self-awareness, your rationale, your voice of conscience, and your creativity. It's because we have a soul that we're able to contemplate our dæmon._

_Never mind, _he thought. _Crazier. _He kept reading nonetheless, because although he didn't admit it to himself, he was intrigued.

_So this makes the dæmon more a useful mental construct: a link to the subconscious, your internal companion, and many things more._

And it's sane again. But in a more "coping with how sucky your life is" way.

_The dæmon is part of your consciousness - that part of your psyche that makes you different from the animals. Some would say the dæmon represents our ability to be truly self-aware, which animals cannot do. Everyone knows their dæmon on a subconscious level. You have likely 'heard' your dæmon many times before without thinking anything of it. They're the voice in your head that chides when you do wrong, is rational when you're lost, laughs when you do something silly, or spills out your honest emotions while we stand silent. They're the part of you that'll agree when you're being level-headed and play Devil's advocate when you're too biased. Knowing your dæmon results in getting more in touch with that part of yourself and becoming more aware of that voice. It means getting to know yourself better, appreciate yourself, and accept who you are._

And now it sounded like something straight out of one of his mom's Yoga retreats, but really, really sweet at the same time. Why was it? _Maybe I could ask my dæmon, _he chuckled inwardly. But he didn't really feel that way. No matter how sarcastic and bashing his thoughts were, he was still taking this seriously. A little too seriously for comfort.

_Let me assure the skeptic straight away that knowing your dæmon doesn't require a 'belief' in anything, per se. The dæmon is an aspect of you, and you exist. Your mind exists. The only faith dæmons require is-_

"What'cha reading, Ben?"

"Gah!" Ben shouted, closing the window and almost falling out off the seat.

Grandpa rubbed the back of his head. "Sorry 'bout that."

"No, it's fine," he replied. "Where are we?"

"We're still in Wisconsin. And Ben, I know how much you hate bookstores, but I need to stop in one for a second."

"Whatever," he grunted, closing the laptop. "But let's make it quick."

As they exited the Rustbucket and crossed the street, Ben's mind raced. He wanted to go back, finish the article. This wasn't something he should've been in to. Weird psyche-paranormal stuff was Gwen's territory. But was it really paranormal?

Maybe the reason he liked it was because it wasn't.

When he was reading it, there had been one phrase the stuck out like a sore thumb- "Everyone has one." It was so bizarre, so seemingly magical, but everyone can do it. It was special, but not.

The thing he had loved about the Omnitrix was that it made him special. He could do what others couldn't. But the drawbacks were too much. Every time he went hero, he became less and less human. He was too different.

But everyone had a dæmon. It was special to know yours on a conscious level, but not to have one. He could be atypical and extraordinary, but still normal. Still human.

Suddenly, the whole concept didn't seem all that crazy.

He became aware of his surroundings again and found himself walking aimlessly alongside a young adult bookshelf, randomly looking at covers. Twilight, no. Maximum Ride, no. The Hunger Games, no. Nothing was catching his attention, and he didn't expect anything to. But his life is pretty much built on the unexpected, so something caught his eye.

The Golden Compass, by Phillip Pullman. Wasn't that the book that Master K had been talking about? He picked it up and skeptically opened up to the first page. He noticed one thing before anything else- the word dæmon.

It was all over it. He started at the top and scanned the page down. Then the next page. And the next. He was in a trance almost. It was about a girl named Lyra doing something he wasn't paying much attention to. All of his attention was on Pantalimon. He was a dæmon, sticking by her side the entire time, switching forms once or twice, and trying to talk her out of doing something stupid. Well, now he knew where the idea came from, and it sounded like a ton of fun.

He went back to the beginning, reading it over again. He kept reading and reading and reading longer than he had ever read before in one sitting. He read until he didn't know he was reading. That is, until he felt a light tap on his shoulder.

He looked up, blinking a few times. Grandpa was standing in front of him, smiling. "Found a good book?" he asked.

"Heck yeah." He studied the page number so he wouldn't loose his page and closed it delicately.

"You have some money left," he pointed out. "You could buy it."

Ben meditated on that for a moment. He had been saving that money to buy a Sumo Slammers figurine at the small convention they would be going to next week. Did he really want to miss out on that? Sure, the book was good- really good- but…

He hesitated, "I-"

"I say buy the book."

The voice came out of nowhere. It was the soft, sweet voice of a lady that Ben had never met but kind of wished he had. He looked to the right, in search of the noise. Nothing. He looked to the left and gawked.

Right next to him he saw a small, yellow antelope, an exact replica of the one on The Dæmon Page. Well, he didn't really see it as much as a perfect copy was put in his mind's eye, but he didn't notice. Her notched, slightly spiraling horns protruded back and up out of her head like corkscrews. Her multicolored head was pointed at him, and she stared right at him with her chocolate colored eyes.

"Go on, hero," she said. "Get caught reading."

He felt his grandpa's bemused stare burning into him, and he looked forward again. But, rather than looking like nothing happened, he broke into a huge smile. "I'll take it."

Ben and Grandpa walked along the sidewalk on their way to the Rustbucket, a book each in hand. While Grandpa was focused on getting to the RV, Ben was following blindly, more focused on the antelope next to him.

"_So, you're my dæmon?" _he thought, hoping he didn't need to talk out loud. He didn't.

"Yep," she replied.

"_What's you're name?"_

"Dunno."

"_So, you're me."_

"Yes."

"_And you're a girl."_

"Yes."

"_Is that normal?"_

"How should I know? I haven't read the whole thing."

He sat down on the chair-couch thing, and his dæmon hopped onto the table in front of him. Now that the initial "OMG" moment was over, she didn't look nearly as clear. The horns had lost their color and the patterns were fading into each other a bit. Ben didn't care. No matter how clear she was projected, she was still his dæmon.

And, although he didn't know it, she would be for the rest of his life.

* * *

If you are interested in becoming part of the awesometasity that is daemons, google The Daemon Page and click on the first thing on the page. It's long, but trust me, it's worth it. (Also, a daemon being the opposite gender is much more common than it being the same. Just for the record.)

I hoped you enjoyed it!


	2. Fritters and Watsons

Chappie 2 time! 8D Anyway, before I go on, I'd like to make one thing clear- There's a perfectly good reason why Ben doesn't have a tiger or wolf as a main form. For tiger, one of the traits is "When it comes to a romance, your straight-forward advances are usually too intense for most to open up to, so you'd best choose your partners wisely." Gwen had to push him onto the tennis court to get him to ask Julie out. As for wolf, a gray wolf trait is "You're highly social and can commonly be found in groups of four to eight." That's just not Ben. So yeah, Ben may be a superhero, but he has to follow the analyses like everyone else. As for why it was a gazelle at first... Since he just saw it on The Daemon Page, it was the first one he thought of. Anyway...

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own Ben 10, daemons, TDF, or any of the weird inside jokes.**

**(P.S: There's Gwevin in here. So if that strongly goes against your morals or something (I don't see how it could), just skip the last part.)**

* * *

"No. No way. Never."

"Okay," Ben thought for a few seconds. "How about 'Feeling Blue'?"

"Is your imagination broken or something?"

He leaned back in his chair. "What makes you say that?"

"All of your titles suck."

"That's a good one!" he shouted, inspired. "'The Other Titles Sucked, but…"

Azmuria bobbed her tan head once and made a whinnying sound of amusement. "At least it catches peoples attention. Besides, everyone knows what it's for. It still sucks, though."

He made a pfft sound. "Whatever." He typed it into the title box, then copying his post into the message box. He was about to click on preview, just to see if it worked, but in his excitement he missed it and pressed submit.

"Crap!" he shouted.

"Look before you click, that's what I always say," shei muttered. "Too bad you never listen."

"I so listen to you!" he retorted. She didn't have time to talk back, since the post appeared automatically on the screen. It went like this:

On the top was a brightly colored, thick lined, cell shaded chibi drawing created by a combination of his dad's old tablet, his crappy scanner, Photoshop Elements, and his own super-secret-awesome drawing skills that only other TDFers (and his art teachers) were aware of. Gwen and Kevin, on the other hand, were clueless. What they didn't know wouldn't hurt them.

It showed Ben, slightly chibiafied, standing next to a really, really annoyed sand-colored horse. Said horse was glaring at him, looking extremely annoyed. They were both surrounded by several little bubbles, which were turning into curled worm-like things, then popping open into tiny versions of Big Chill. Best of all, the horse was saying, "Nice going, Mr. Seahorse."

The text underneath went like this:

I love my mind. :3

I bet most of you know what this is for. But for those of you who don't… *pokes post count* 1000! Read it and weep baby! D

After a year and a half of basking in the TDF Pantheon's awesometality, I finally get to join in the fun. Over the past 578 days or so, I've been through a lot of tough times. My dad getting sick, the epic RV explosion, even that stretch of time a little while ago that I can't tell you about without being strangled by many, many people. But you guys have always been there for me when I needed it most. And now, thanks to you, I've reached the status of a God.

For now on, you must refer to me as the God of Blue Alien Mothmen Larva Bubbles. 8D

1000 posts ago, a young 13 year old boy by the name of Ben came across The Dæmon Page, but he got kicked off before finishing the introduction and dragged into a bookstore. Then, all of a sudden, there was a gazelle-thing standing next to him, trying to convince him to buy Golden Compass. That boy was me. I still remember it like it was yesterday. *reminisces*

Anywho, there are a ton of people I need to thank. But first of all, a special thanks to Master K. Without your jerkiness, I would never have met Az.

(After that was a long list of people of everyone he had interacted with on The Dæmon Forum.)

Now, I have to go do some self photography. I specially timed this so my 1001 post could be on the picture post thread of me looking sexy in a shirt I got on The Dæmon Store.

Toodles!

~Ben

--

It looked good to them.

Ben clicked out of the window as Az shifted into her ring-tailed lemur form and hopped to the ground. He picked up the unopened package next to him and ripped the top off, revealing a lump of black fabric in the middle of a sea of packing popcorn. He pulled it out and quickly changed.

He grabbed his camera and first took a speedy headshot, then he posed in front of mirror. He took a peek at the preview. He looked almost exactly like he usually did, except for the shirt under his jacket. It would have looked exactly the same, but in bold white letters across the chest it read "Steam Fritters", which was one of the forum's biggest inside jokes. He giggled just looking at it.

He continued to strike different poses, getting a few shots of each one. All the while, Az was constantly changing shape and posing with him, shouting "work it, Baby, work it!" in a perfect imitation of Tyra Banks. He was about to get a shot of himself looking like a rap artist with a mini Godzilla when the door opened.

"Ah!" he yelped, pulling his jacket over his shirt. Instinctively, Az became a mouse and jumped into his pocket, even though no one could see her anyway.

"Alright, Tennyson, what's going on?" Kevin asked flatly.

"Nothing, nothing at all!" he stammered.

"Turn around."

He obeyed.

"Take off the jacket."

This time, he didn't. "No way."

Kevin put his fist in his hand. "Take it off or I'll pound you into the wall."

He hesitated. Az shifted in his pocket uneasily. "Do it," she whispered. "It isn't worth it."

He sighed, defeated, and revealed the odd message.

Kevin stared at him, a bit worried. "Steam fritters. What the hell is a steam fritter?"

"Long story," Ben muttered, obscuring it with his jacket again. "How the heck did you get in here?"

"Your folks let me in," he replied. "I'm just returning this." He threw a black CD case on the bed that has House written in black sharpie on it.

He gaped at him. "You stole my House recording?" Az suddenly appeared by his side as a black panther, growling with disapproval.

"Borrowed," he corrected. "And why do you have that one recorded anyway?"

Ben knew what he meant. It was the episode right before the season finale, where House starts seeing Amber everywhere and she starts acting exactly like his dæmon. He usually wasn't too big into House, but that episode was so… Dæmonic. He couldn't resist.

"Because I like it!" was all he could come up with.

"It was the strippers, wasn't it?"

"No way!" he shouted. Kevin was really starting to piss him off. Az turned into a dire wolf and started barking like mad. Of course, no one noticed but Ben.

"Oh yeah it was!" he teased. "Don't deny it, Tennyson."

Ben slapped his hand down on the table and scowled. He couldn't hold it in anymore. "You laurel-crowned son of a Watson!"

By the time he covered his mouth, the insult was already out. Oh God. He started panicking, hoping with all his being that Kevin would just ignore that comment.

Az sat on her haunches and clapped her paws together, unsure whether to be worried or impressed. "Wow, Ben. Just wow."

And finally, Kevin was staring at him like he had two heads. Well, thanks to the Omnitrix, it wouldn't be all that strange if Ben had two heads, so he was staring at him like he would stare at anyone else with two heads.

"What did you just call me?" he asked.

"Nothing," Ben squeaked. It turned out to be rhetorical.

"A laurel-crowed son of a Watson. What the hell is a laurel-crowed son of a Watson?"

Ben jumped, forcefully turning Kevin around and pushing him out the door. "Long story, inside joke, goodbye!" He slammed it shut, locked it, and put his back to it to hold it down. Luckily, there wasn't anything to hold down. He listened as Kevin slowly stomped away, either really angry or really confused. Confused, probably, because if he were angry, the door wouldn't be there for Ben to hold down.

"Wait a second…" Az muttered to herself. "Why didn't I think of that before?"

"_What?"_ Ben asked, in his head this time. He couldn't risk anyone hearing him talk out loud.

"You could have gone hero when he walked in and avoided the whole Steam Fritters incident."

"_That wouldn't help. He'd be even more suspicious."_

She nodded. "More suspicious, yes. But more in a 'beating-up-baddies-in-my-spare-time' way than a 'talking-to-an-imaginary-shapeshifting-animal-thing-in-my-spare-time' way."

"_How can he find that out from Steam Fritters?"_

"The internet. Google. Yahoo answers. The works."

Ben sighed. _"Point taken."_

"I motion that you go alien next time someone who knows about the Omnitrix walks into the room when you're wearing a TDF shirt."

"_Seconded,"_ he giggled. She had always loved mimicking Alien X, and it was always funny.

"Motion carried!" she shouted, jumping onto his arm in lemur form. "Come now, we have some pictures to post of you."

---

Gwen had always hated Independence Day. It made her want to start blasting the TV with mana bullets.

She loved the plot and the characters, and the explosions were pretty sweet. Really, she thought most of it was great. Then why did she despise it so much?

The aliens. They made them look like complete evil bad guys, which was totally stereotypical. And of course the US army stops them. To her, it was just a bunch of humans going "We're superior to super-advanced super-intelligent telepathic aliens with gigantic flying saucers and death rays!" It made her sick.

And there she was, watching it for the third time that month. The human/alien mind is odd that way.

The door creaked open. She would have paused the DVD player and turned the TV off, but she realized it was just Kevin. She skipped the turning it off part.

She flipped over on the couch. "Hey Kevin, what's up?"

He looked like he was in a trance. He stared at the floor far in front of him, looking really, really confused. She frowned, a bit worried.

"Are you okay?" she asked.

"Ben called me a laurel-crowned son of a Watson," he said blankly.

Kevin's comment triggered a miniature flashback for Gwen:

She was fourteen, and was going on her first road trip with Grandpa and Ben since she got back from Singapore and missed it. Ben had been acting really weird, asking her all sorts of weird questions about introversion versus extroversion and her preferred learning style. They had gotten into some kind of argument, and he called her a laurel-crowned son of a Watson. She got really confused, but before she could really react, they had to go watch some play that Grandpa had wanted to see for a long time. They never talked about it again.

"Don't worry about it," she said finally. "Ben says weird stuff."

"And he was wearing a shirt that said Steam Fritters."

She raised an eyebrow. It was probably some soccer-team inside joke. That would explain why he couldn't stop laughing when she ordered an apple fritter at a bakery once. Maybe the Watson thing was too. It still didn't explain all the weird questions, though.

"And my mother's maiden name is Watson," Kevin added.

To that, Gwen had no comment.

"That's Will Smith, right?" he asked suddenly, pointing to the TV.

"Oh, yeah," she said. "I'm watching Independence Day," she explained. He was the only one who knew about her alien horror movie addiction. She needed someone to rant about it too.

He looked around. They were alone. No parents, no siblings. He gave her a sly smile. "Wanna make out?"

She smiled back. "Not until you ask me out. But you can watch."

He sat down beside her, and she pressed play on the remote. They rewatched it together, laughing and making snide comments the whole way through.

* * *

Yeah, that was probably funnier for any TDFers that read this, but whatever. It's still crazy-awesome. =D Tune in next time! (It will be a little while, since I have to update Only a Mother Could Love soon.)


	3. Red Bags, Red Eyes

Sorry this took so long. I actually had this done a long time ago... But I forgot to put it up. Sorry! Anyway, I hope you enjoy.

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own Ben 10, daemons, or any of the TDFers that are in here. They volenteered to be part of this.**

* * *

"DAD!"

"Yeah, Ben?"

"Where's the red sleeping bag?"

"Gwen borrowed it, remember?"

Ben wanted to groan, but Az did it for him. This was just great. It was absolutely vital that they got that sleeping bag. He would have gotten it earlier, but he had procrastinated. That was a bit weird for him, but he had been busy saving up by catching crooks for a reward, so he just hadn't had time. At least he had money.

He picked up the phone, quickly dialing Gwen's home phone number. If she wasn't there, he would have to Jetray over and Goop into her house. Az pointed out that he wouldn't have to explain why he wanted it if he did that, and Ben started wishing she wouldn't pick up. She did.

"Hello?" she yawned.

"Hi, Gwen," he said nervously.

"Hey Ben, what's up?"

He looked at the clock. 8:15. Forty-five minutes. There wasn't time to stall. "Can I have that red sleeping bag back?" he blurted out.

"Sure, why?"

He was afraid she'd ask that.

"Um, well…"

Suddenly, he felt inspiration, and channeled it through Az. She turned into a song sparrow and landed on his shoulder. "Your dad wants it," she whispered the lie. "Badly."

"My dad needs it back," he replied. "He wants to make sure everything's all nice and tidy for when my Mom comes back. He doesn't know you have it, and I'm afraid he's going to blow a gasket looking for it."

"Nice touch," Az complemented, turning into a horse by his side.

"Thanks," he thought back.

"How long do I have?" she asked.

"I'd say about fifteen minutes," he estimated.

"I'll be right over." She hung up.

He threw the phone on the table and bolted downstairs, afraid that his cousin had learned how to teleport or something and would find his dad watching football. (Sure it sounded really stupid, but when it came to Gwen, it was a viable concern.)

"Dad," he called, "I need you to do something."

Ben's dad paused the game. "What is it?

"It's Gwen. I told her that you were looking around everywhere for that sleeping bag that 'you forgot' that you lent to her and wanted the house to be nice and orderly for when Mom gets home, and that you were going to blow a gasket in fifteen minutes. Can you do that?"

He raised an eyebrow, but he turned off the TV. "Sure, I guess."

"Well then get off your butt and get moving!" he said. Az did the same, only with more colorful language. She could get away with that. They ran/galloped around the house, gathering the other materials they needed. His dad rummaged around the house, hunting for a red sleeping bag that would be coming through the door with his cousin any time between then and 8:30.

He was just stuffing the last pieces of clothing he needed into his suitcase when the doorbell rang.

Panicked, he stuffed it in the nearest closet, obscuring it with the vacuum and slamming it shut. Then, he sprinted to the door, put a look of relief on his face, and opened it.

"Hey Ben," she walked in, the pouch with the sleeping bag in her right hand. She smiled at him. "You are so lucky I can fly."

"Yeah," he agreed quickly. "Thanks. Anyway, see ya-"

She caught the door before he could finish closing it. "Whoa there, hold it. I didn't come all this way just to give you the bag."

He opened the door again, feeling anxious. And Az was making it worse.

"Crap crap crap, you still have a ton of stuff to do," she rambled, pacing back and forth behind him, "you have to pack a snack, go to the bank, and then there's the 10 minutes you need to set aside in case they come early…"

"Shut up!" he screamed in his head. He sat on the couch, leaving a space for his cousin, but she stayed standing. Az turned into a mangy-looking mutt cat and took the space in her place.

"I saw you on the news today," Gwen said, hands on her hips.

"Oh. Right." In order to make some money for his trip, he decided to do his 10 year old thing and go do superhero work. He had started catching criminals and putting them behind bars, then collecting whatever reward he could. He hadn't let his friends in on it, though. He never let them in on anything Az-related.

"What were you doing?" she asked, a bit of worry and anger in her voice. "I thought you said that we would lay low this time around. You know, not going out of our way to fight crime like we used to?"

Ben sighed. "Gwen, you know me. I can't help it! Saving people is my thing! And now that the DNAliens are gone…"

"Oh," she sighed. "I get it. You want to feel like your making a difference, and now that you're done saving the world, you need something else to save."

He nodded. "Pretty much." He had put something along those lines somewhere in his Reverse Analysis. Minus the whole saving the world part.

"Well, you could help out in other ways," she suggested. "Like community service and stuff. You don't need the omnitrix for that." She sighed and shook her head, giving up. "Ben, I know this is what you do, but it's putting you in danger. It's putting the whole team in danger. You have to stop."

"Well, you already have the money," Az said. "It won't affect the trip. And I don't think she's talking about self-defense. You could still fight aliens, just not crooks."

"Fine," he said. He put up his right hand. "I swear that, from this day forth, I will not go out of my way to fight common criminals."

Gwen smiled, amused. "Good."

Ben stood. "Now if you excuse me, I have to go check my email." He needed to see the packing list again. He bolted up the stares, and she let him go.

He opened Yahoo, clicked on Check Mail, and automatically noticed the new email from a fellow TDFer: A Change of Plan. He opened the message, hoping it would give him more time.

--

Hey Ben!

I just wanted to let you know what we'll be coming a bit earlier, probably around 8:30. I can't wait to meet you!

--

Ben looked at the clock.

"8:29," Az muttered.

They swore.

He flew down the stairs two steps at a time, skidding to a stop in front of his patiently waiting cousin. "Okay, I know this sounds weird, but you have to get out of here. Like, now."

"Why?" she asked, but she stood up. That was a good sign. "Are we under attack or something?"

"No," he said. "It's just that… Well… I have a friend coming over, and…"

"Is this friend of yours a girl?"

"Kind of, yeah."

"What's her name?"

"You don't know her."

"Did you break up with Julie or something?"

"No!"

"Then are you-"

"I'm not cheating on Julie!" he shouted in exasperation. "It's just-"

The doorbell rang, cutting into their conversation. Az facepawed herself. The humans stood up, and Ben walked over to the door. He opened it, and there stood a thin, dark haired girl with a controlled smile on her face. But she moment she saw Ben, she broke into a huge grin. "You're Ben, right?"

"Yep!" he chirped back. "And you're Kel?"

"Uh-huh."

"So, uh, Kel," Gwen piped up. "What exactly is going on?"

Ben answered. "This is my second cousin, on my mom's side. She's taking me to the family reunion." It was a total lie, of course, but he couldn't let her know what he was really doing. He gave Kel a quick "play along" glance. Gwen just stared at them with an eyebrow raised.

"Well, okay…" Kel said. "I guess we'll… go." She walked out of the room, and Ben, after running into the closet and grabbing his suitcase, followed her.

"Tell Dad I said bye!" he called to her as he rushed across the front yard. "And Kevin! And everyone else!" He shoved himself through the side door of the car. "See you in two weeks!" he finished, slamming the door.

"Well, that's everyone," Kel said, looking back at the two girls (Kay and Nadie) and Ben. She turned the key, and the engine roared to life. "TDF Camping Extravaganza, here we come!"

The other daemians whooped and hollered as they drove off into the horizon, which definitely wasn't a sunset seeing as it was eight o'clock in the morning.

"Hey. Wake up."

Lottie's eyes flickered open. Her head was throbbing like mad. She incoherently muttered something about Fen and pushed off the cold, hard floor into a seated position.

Wait a second. Floor? Hadn't she been in bed?

She gawked around. The place resembled a medieval dungeon, only with furniture and without any creepy skeletons in battle armor. Instead, there was a creepy person in battle armor, prodding her with the blunt end of a menacing-looking spear. She gulped.

"Come with me," he said. His voice was commanding, but not very threatening. If she was a bit stronger and he was unarmed and unprotected, she could probably take him out. But how things were going then? Not a chance.

"Do it," the mini rex rabbit dæmon next to her, Fen, hissed quietly. "That spear could well kill you."

She rose to her feet, her hands in the air, and tailed the guard out of the room. She got a feeling they were in a basement, and the whole place smelled like whiskey. She was starting to feel a bit tipsy just strolling through. They soon reached a flight of stairs behind a grand wooden door, which they began to climb.

She glanced at her feet. Her trainers looked like they got thrown in a mud puddle. It was almost a shame what they were doing to the red rug. It was perfectly clean before, but every step she took left a pile of dried dirt. Then again, as far as she knew, these guys did kidnap her. She dug her shoe in a bit extra with every step, just to tick them off.

They entered a large room, decorated from floor to ceiling with red and gold velvet. The guard prodded her a bit to hard, and she stumbled forward.

Fen sneered at the man. "Watch it, you bloody-"

"Welcome," a voice boomed from ahead of them. She looked up and saw what she thought was a decoration- a golden suit of armor sitting in a large throne. Then it moved, and she realized it was a man. "Lottie, is it?"

"Yes sir." She didn't know why she said sir. It was better than calling him My Lord or something. The face imprinted on the mask remained unchanged, obviously, and she suspected the face underneath looked the same.

Suddenly, as if it were rehearsed (and it probably was), the ornamental suits of armor along the walls sprung into action. The two closest to her grabbed her arms and threw her down. Two more pinned her to the ground, while one more came from behind. She struggled, trying to kick and scream, but it was no use. Fen bounced around in front of her, egging her on.

Then, he was gone.

She froze, confused. What happened to Fen? She tried to conjure him, but she just got a tingle in the back of her head. Where was he? She started to panic, twisting her head every which way.

He couldn't be gone. He had to be around somewhere. He couldn't have left her. He just couldn't. She felt all sorts of emotions welling up in her throat.

"Don't worry, Lottie. I'm still here." A mini rex rabbit slid into her mind's eye. It was Fen! She sighed with relief. She looked at him again, and realized something was different. His eyes. They were glowing red.

"You're not-"

She didn't finish. She felt like she got hit in the back of her head. A shudder ran through the entire length of her body, like an earthquake. Her eyes rolled back in her head and she jerked upwards, forcing the guards off of her and bringing her to a standing position. All the shaking stopped.

And then, she forgot everything that just happened.

She shook her head, a bit dizzy. Why was she dizzy? She'd done nothing but stand there as Mr. Lander explained the flight arrangements, and she got all wobbly. She put her hand on the back of her neck, which had started stinging. Fen twitched once next to her. "Oy, that was weird," he muttered.

"Are you alright?" Mr. Lander asked, leaning forward in his throne.

"I think something bit me," she replied.

"There is a wasp nest somewhere around here," he mused. "Might have been one of them. Anyway, are you clear on everything?"

"Yes, sir!"

"Run along then," he said. "You've got some packing to do."

She thanked him and sprinted out of the room, down the stairs, through the halls, and out the door she came in from. She couldn't believe it. The KNTS Organization offered to pay for her to go on the TDF Camping Extravaganza! All she had to do was make sure the group went to a certain area at a certain time that they would give her, and keep it a surprise until they met up. They were going to interview them all for a psychology research thing they were writing up. The campers would love that.

She skipped across the front lawn of the building, daydreaming and whistling. She could meet Ben, Nadie, Kel, Bink… Oh, she couldn't wait to meet her old mentee!

"This is going to be epic," Fen hollered as he bounced around her.

"Yeah it is," the muttered out loud as she mounted her bicycle she left leaning against a lamppost. She peddled off, how she would tell TDF being the only thing on her mind. Even though, deep down, she felt really, really horrible. Like something bad was about to happen.

"Oh, come off it," Fen responded to her gut. "You're going camping the most awesome people on Earth. Nothing's going to go wrong, I promise."

But, for the first time ever, she didn't trust his word.


End file.
